This week I did something that was very out-of-character for myself… something totally spontaneous. Even though this year I told myself that I wanted to fill my life with more spontaneity, I did not know how that would look. Honestly, I thought I would just end up trying a new menu item at a restaurant.

Instead, on Tuesday, the night before the UNC vs. Clemson basketball game, I made plans with my boyfriend to travel from my hometown of Greensboro, NC to Clemson, SC to watch my Tar Heels.

Don’t get me wrong, I still faced hesitation with my decision, and I felt like it was never set in stone. I even tried to sell my tickets the night before the game, partially because my mom kept telling me it was too long of a trip just to go to a basketball game. I truly did not decide to go until the morning of the gameday. (However, shoutout to my boyfriend for being the one to create the opportunity and continually convincing me that we should go.)

Eventually, once I decided to buckle down and do this thing, I figured if I were to go through with my new plans that returning home at 2 a.m. after the game was something I did not want to do, and my mom did have a point about the long drive to Clemson and back in one day. (Mother knows best!) With an 8 a.m. class the next morning, I decided to do something else I had never done before: book an Airbnb! I booked a place in Charlotte, NC to stay on the way back, so I could feel at least half-alive when waking up for my class the next morning. (I am 100% a night person.)  Finally, all of the pieces were in place. It was time for my crazy last-minute journey to begin!

I rode out of my driveway ready for adventure! The approximately four hour ride to Clemson left me with plenty of time to reflect on everything. This list including: this blog, my passions, the power of sports, and more. 

If you did not know already, the birth of this blog is thanks to my professor, Gary Kayye, at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. For our “Branding of Me” class, he instructed us to write two blogs a week on our passions, life, and anything that enhances our personal brand. It was the first time in school that I think I’ve ever been told to write about myself and my passions. Immediately, I knew I wanted to write a blog on something sports-related since sports are a great passion of mine and an industry I would love to pursue a career in. I did not realize until the car ride to Clemson that this experience would be perfect to write about since it defines who I am and represents a large slice of my interests.

The next thing I thought about during the drive was what got me to act in such an out-of-character, spontaneous way? Ah, yes… my everlasting passion for sports, and more specifically, my UNC Tar Heels. I began to realize something I thought I always understood, but I suppose truly never grasped: the power of sports and its impact on fans.

Sports truly harness the ability to bring out the wildest sides of people and provide a world of fantasy and escape from daily life. Some argue that the world would still function without the insanely huge industry of sports, but as the world witnessed the shutdown of sports at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, I could not help but notice how impactful their absence was to society. In fact, one of my greatest motivators to go to the UNC vs. Clemson game was the fact that I have attended a Tar Heel basketball game every single season for as long as I can remember, and since the Dean E. Smith Center does not allow in-person attendance this year, I had to figure out a way to see my heels in the 2020-21 season. Talk about undying passion!

Even though UNC fell to Clemson with a final score of 63-50, the entire trip was truly the happiest I have ever felt after a Tar Heel loss. While staying in Charlotte that night after the loss, I was also able to visit the Spectrum Center, home to the Charlotte Hornets NBA team, and the Bank of America Stadium, home to the Carolina Panthers NFL team. It was the perfect cherry on top of a passionate, crazy, sports-filled, spontaneous road trip. I will treasure the experience forever. (See pictures below!)

So, welcome, officially, to my blog, where I am going to write about passions that would make me change my plans at the drop of a hat and make me want to take a spontaneous road trip to go pursue!